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dealt with its endemic corruption problem, the influence of the oligarchs and remains politically unstable. Moreover, even if there is a ceasefire
in the near future, taking Ukraine into Nato worries some members, as it will remain under threat from renewed aggression by Russia, or its leaders may take advantage of the Nato backing and try to recapture its lost territories by force, banking on its Nato status to prevent Russia responding.
Frantic talks
Zelenskiy will be bitterly disappointed that no progress has been made since the Bucharest memorandum in 2008. He has been touring Europe and lobbying friends and enemies to support Ukraine’s bid for a real commitment by the Nato members to invite Ukraine to join in the last weeks.
He has had talks with European countries, the US, Canada and Japan ahead of the Vilnius summit and is due to meet with US President Joe
this has been a small win that doesn’t fundamentally accelerate Ukraine’s membership.
"I welcome this long-awaited decision that shortens our path to Nato. It is also the best moment to offer clarity on the invitation to Ukraine to become a member," Kuleba tweeted ahead of the meeting. Ukraine got the first, but not the second.
Finland, which applied to join Nato in May 2022 and skipped the MAP process, managed to become the alliance's newest member in less than a year. Sweden is also expected to rapidly be made a member after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his objections to Sweden joining the day before the summit started, cutting a deal that sees Sweden tighten its rules on anti-terrorism.
The US was the force behind offering Ukraine eventual membership in Bucharest in 2008 over the objections
exactly it will include is not clear, but it
is likely that it will include guarantees of permanent military assistance, including in the training of military personnel and the supply of weapons. According to Politico, the United States, UK, Germany and France will act as guarantors, but
the agreement on this will be finalised during the summit itself.
The Nato summit has highlighted the continuing disagreements in Nato over the issue of Ukraine’s membership. Germany, Hungary and the US are against it. The UK, Poland, Portugal and the Baltic states are for it. But any decision on accepting a new member has to be unanimous.
Germany’s objection is that Ukrainian membership could lead to a war between the bloc and Russia, according to a
Nato official who spoke with British newspaper The Telegraph. Germany plans to advocate for increased security guarantees instead of immediate membership, but again these will only be discussed after the fighting stops.
Biden also said that Ukraine is not yet ready to join Nato, calling the prospect of its membership in the international alliance “premature” amid its war with Russia.
“I don’t think it’s ready for membership in Nato,” Biden said in an interview
with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that aired on July 9. “I don’t think there is unanimity in Nato about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the Nato family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war.”
The UK pledged continued support for Ukraine on July 10, on the eve of the Nato summit in Vilnius. Portugal came out in support of Ukraine's Nato membership on July 8 in a joint statement with Kyiv following a phone conversation between Zelenskiy and Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa.
Lithuania's past leaders, including former presidents Valdas Adamkus and Dalia Grybauskaitė, sent a letter asking Nato leaders to invite Ukraine to join the alliance during the Vilnius summit, the LRT public broadcaster reported on
“Zelenskiy will be bitterly disappointed that no progress has been made since the Bucharest memorandum in 2008”
Biden during his trip to Vilnius. But it appears that Nato is not prepared to
be more explicit on Ukraine’s eventual membership. Biden will seek to convince Zelenskiy that simplifying the accession process and a sizable security commitment is the most that Ukraine can get from the summit, according to media reports.
Ukraine went into the talks with an upbeat message. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said ahead of the meeting that Nato allies will agree on a simplified procedure for Ukraine's accession, referring to the dropping of the MAP process. Following intensive talks, "Nato allies agreed to remove
the Membership Action Plan (MAP) from Ukraine's path toward accession,” Kuleba said on July 10, but in retrospect
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of France and Germany, but seems to have done an about-face now and joined Germany in cooling on the idea. Biden later told reporters ahead of the summer that he would not make it “easier” for Ukraine to join, because the country “has to meet the same standards as other members”.
Ukraine applied for Nato membership in September 2022, half a year into the full-scale Russian invasion. Ukraine's accession to Nato has been a subject of discussions and disagreements
ever since.
Over the weekend, the Western media also wrote a lot about the "Israeli model" of bilateral security guarantees outside the alliance, which allows Nato to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia. What